Fipa abstract Architecture Specification

5.13FIPA-entity-attributes

The FIPA-entity-attributes are optional attributes that are part of the directory-entry for a FIPA-entity. They are represented as a key and value pair. The purpose of the attributes is to allow searching for directory-entries that match FIPA-entities of interest.

A directory-entry may have zero or more FIPA-entity-attributes

When a FIPA-entity registers a directory-entry, the directory-entry may optionally contain key and value pairs that offer additional description of the FIPA-entity. The values might include information about costs of using the agent or FIPA-service, features available, ontologies understood, or any other data that FIPA-entities deem useful, or names that the service is commonly known by. Other FIPA-entities can then search in the directory service for FIPA-entities that meet particular requirements

In practice, when defining realizations of this abstract architecture, domain specific specifications should existing about the FIPA-entity-attributes that are going to be presented, to allow for interoperation.

5.14FIPA-entity-name

An FIPA-entity-name is a means to identify a FIPA-entity to other FIPA-entities, such as agents and FIPA-services. It is unchanging (that is, it is immutable) and unique under normal circumstances of operation.

An FIPA-entity-name is an identifier (a GUID, globally unique identifier) that is associated with the FIPA-entity when it is created or when it registers for the first time. Name issuing should occur in a way that tends to ensure global uniqueness. That is, names should be issued using an algorithm that generates the name in such a way and with a sufficient number of random bits that there is a vanishingly small chance of a name collision.

The FIPA-entity-name will typically be issued by another entity or service. Once issued, the unique identifier should not be dependent upon the continued existence of the third party that issued it. Ideally, there will be an ongoing mechanism to verify the authenticity of the name.

Beyond this durable relationship with the FIPA-entity it denotes, the FIPA-entity-name should have no semantics. It should not encode any actual properties of the agent itself, nor should it disclose related information such as agent transport-description or location. It also should not be used as a form of authentication of the agent. Authentication services must rely on the combination of a unique identifier plus something else (for example, a certificate that makes the name tamper-proof and verifies its authenticity through a trusted third party).

A useful role of an FIPA-entity-name is to allow agents is in the creation of BDI systems. The agent name can be used to correlate propositional attitudes with the particular agents that are believed to hold those attitudes.

FIPA-entities, and particularly agents, may also have “well-known” or “common” or “social” names, or “nicknames”, by which they are popularly known. These names are often used to commonly identify an agent. For example, within an agent system, there may be a broker service for finding airfare agents. The convention within this system is that this agent is nicknamed “Air-fare broker”. In practice, this is implemented as a FIPA-entity-attribute (that is there is additional attribute for the agent). The attribute could be “Nickname” and the value for that is “Air-fare broker”. However, the actual name of the agent that is providing the function is unique, so that is possible to distinguish between an agent providing that function in one cluster of agents, and another agent providing the same function in a different cluster of agents.